Radio Bilingüe recently was awarded a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to develop a new multimedia, multiplatform service in English that will serve a young demographic (under 40) in Los Angeles. This phase is 9 months - to develop and test a whole new sound for Los Angeles. We envision a service that is connected to the Los Angeles community, is responsive to the needs of the community and reflects (to whatever extent possible) the young demographic in Los Angeles. We hope it will be someone that knows the needs and to some degree the dreams for a better community in Los Angeles.

This person may be in public media but she/he may not. She/he may be a community organizer, a web wiz - at a foundation or nonprofit. If you have any idea of who may be a good candidate... since you know so many people, please let them know about the position or let me know.

In these trying times... there are still great opportunities that surface. Below is the job announcement.

I would like to let you know about the position... just in case... someone immediately comes to mind. Also, if there is anyone in Southern California that I should pass this information to, let me know and I will follow-up.

By the way, CPB has stated that it will support the project for the next five years. They see the need for a public media service in Los Angeles that reflects the diverse community.

Gracias, Hugo

Chief Content Officer - L.A. Public Media Service

Apply now for a key position with the one of the most exciting public media projects in the country: a multi-media service that will serve a new audience—this project is the nexus of innovation and diversity and is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the right individual.

With funding from the Corporation from Public Broadcasting, Radio Bilingüe is developing the next generation of public media. The new service will be based in Los Angeles and will aim for a young, diverse audience with an initial focus on Latinos and will be produced across multi-platforms: radio, web, video and mobile.

The Chief Content Officer will be visionary who wants to inspire and lead a creative team in producing a new sound for a new audience.

Our Ideal Candidate Will Have:• Success in developing innovative concepts• Ability to recruit, audition and inspire the production team charged with creating new content for underserved audiences• Ability to work independently and handle multiple deadlines and priorities• Media research, interpretation, and application skills• Audience analysis, targeting, and testing experience• Experience on the L.A “beat” and with relevant topics for L.A Latinos and other communities of color.• Several years of work experience, including management oversight of administrative, budget, and staffing functionsSalary: Negotiable

Send cover letter, a current resume/CV and audio, digital, video or print work samples or a URL where your samples can be heard or viewed to: wendi@wbrowncreative.com 541.858.0376 PH 866.224.1423 FXFor fuller job description, email wendi@wbrowncreative.com This position will remain open until the needs of the organization are met. Therefore, please apply ASAP.

Hugo MoralesRadio Bilingüe, Inc.Latino Voices Live on the Web atwww.radiobilingue.org

A recent report by the U.S. Department of Education found that immigrant male children are more prone to obesity than the native-born. "Thirty-four percent of kindergarten-age immigrant boys are obese or overweight, compared with 25 percent of the sons of native-born Americans...By eighth grade, that number rises to 49 percent, compared with 33 percent among natives. No similar discrepancy was found among girls." The report may be found by cliking here.

This volume examines the welfare economics, political economy, and legal experience in international economic migration, and on the basis of its analysis, suggests the structure of a multilateral framework agreement on international economic migration.

"The issue of international economic migration is a fundamental issue of international governance for the years to come. While there are many political, economic, and legal complexities, it appears that states are ready to begin discussing how best to address restrictions on international migation of workers. As they do so, The International Law of Economic Migration: Toward the Fourth Freedom will serve as an excellent source of analysis and ideas." - Pascal Lamy

"Joel Trachtman is an eminent legal jurist on international trade. Here he extends his range to issues of international migration, demonstrating a rare ability to bring his acute analytical powers to bear on the economics, ethics and politics of this complex subject. The result is a beautiful volume that no student or policymaker can afford to miss." - Jagdish Bhagwati

Authorities say a former high-ranking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was stationed in Mexico before retiring in 2007 has been arrested on suspicion of cocaine smuggling.

Richard Padilla Cramer was arrested Friday at his home in Green Valley, Ariz., 25 miles south of Tucson. He later appeared before a federal judge, who denied bail.

The charges stem from a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency investigation dating back to 2006.

In a criminal complaint made public Friday, authorities say Cramer helped a large-scale drug trafficking organization move cocaine into the United States.

The complaint says that Cramer provided members of a drug trafficking organization with information from confidential law enforcement databases and invested $400,000 in a 300-pound shipment of cocaine that was seized in June 2007. Click here for the rest of the story.

The Treasury Department has lifted nearly all U.S. restrictions on family travel to Cuba, along with limits on how much money families can send to relatives on the island. The Washington Post has more details.

Washington, DC – A new report cataloging the pervasive mistreatment of American workers at the lowest rungs of the economic ladder bolsters the case for stronger labor law enforcement and comprehensive immigration reform. The study from the Center for Urban Economic Development, National Employment Law Project, and U.C.L.A. Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers, explored the treatment of nearly 4,500 workers in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago and found widespread labor and employment violations across a number of industries and occupations. The report also found that the current dysfunctional immigration system makes it harder for immigrant workers to assert their rights in the workplace – to the detriment of all workers.

In an editorial, the New York Times noted that “Workplace abuses are flourishing in the absence of a working immigration system, where illegal immigrants are vital to the economy but helpless to assert their rights. The report upends the argument that the way to help American workers is to make illegal immigrants ever more frightened and exploitable. Only by protecting all workers will the country begin to rebuild a workplace matching its ideals of decency and fair play.”

“As we approach Labor Day, it’s never been clearer that our dysfunctional immigration system leads directly to worker abuse and exploitation,” said Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice. “As we’ve seen in Postville, IA and elsewhere, when immigrant workers are without the protection of the law, unscrupulous employers can undercut the wages and working conditions of all, and gain unfair advantage against honest businesses who do play by the rules.”

The report lays out an array of workplace abuses prevalent in a number of low-wage industries. For example, over two-thirds of workers suffered an illegal wage violation in just the past week; more than one quarter received pay below minimum wage; and only 8 percent of workers who had been injured on the job had filed for workers’ compensation, largely because of threats and fears of employer retribution. The report authors concluded that we need to “strengthen government enforcement of employment and labor laws,” “update legal standards for the 21st century labor market,” and “establish equal status for immigrants in the workplace.”

According to the report, “The best inoculation against workplace violations is ensuring that workers know their rights, have full status under the law to assert them, have access to sufficient legal resources, and do not fear retaliation. But for unauthorized immigrant workers today, this can be a near impossibility. Any policy initiative to reduce workplace violations must prioritize equal protection and equal status in national immigration reform, and ensure status-blind enforcement of employment and labor laws.”

Steps to make these recommendations a reality are already underway. The two largest labor federations in America, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and Change to Win (CTW), have developed a common framework for comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to legal status for undocumented workers, a commission to regulate the entry of workers in the future, increased labor protections, and enforcement standards to guard against the types of abuses documented in the report and in the devastating aftermath of the 2008 Agriprocessors immigration raid in Postville, IA.

“Strong labor law enforcement combined with immigration reform that brings undocumented workers under the umbrella of labor and political rights will restore integrity to both the labor market and the immigration system,” said Sharry.

In a Newsweek article this week, "The Five Biggest Lies in the Health Care Debate," the myth that illegal immigrants will receive free health care ranked ranked number three on the list of health care lies gone viral. The article names Rep. Steve King of Iowa, who claimed in a USA Today Op-ed that prohibition of health care coverage for illegal immigrants is "functionally meaningless" without mandatory citizenship checks, for fanning the flames of misinformation.

Immigration Impact reports that voters In a three year time series analysis by the Latino Policy Coalition, Congressional Democrats have been gaining credibility with Latino voters while Congressional Republicans have lost credibility. Why? Congressional Republicans have consistently alienated key constituencies with their stance on pressing policy issues, such as immigrtaion, the opposition to Justice Sotomayor, and the indifference to discrimination against Latinos. And the wackiness of the "birthers" on the extreme right has to alienate just about any sane voters!

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed paperwork in the Prince William County court system Tuesday, requesting that loitering charges be dropped against three Latinos who were gathered outside their apartment complex. The ACLU alleges that these charges are used to target latinos. For the full story, click here.

"The Labor Department is trying again to roll back Bush administration regulations that made it easier for farmers to hire temporary foreign farm workers. The agency on Thursday said it is proposing new rules that would boost wages and increase safeguards for thousands of seasonal workers brought in each year to help farmers pick their crops. It would also require that growers make greater efforts to fill those jobs with American workers." For the full story, click here.

A new -- and UPBEAT -- immigration film, Amreeka, chronicles the adventures of Muna, a single mother who leaves the West Bank with Fadi, her teenage son, with dreams of an exciting future in the small town Illinois. In America, as her son navigates high school hallways the way he used to move through military checkpoints, the indomitable Muna scrambles together a new life cooking up falafel burgers as well as hamburgers at the local White Castle. Amreeka is a universal journey into the lives of a family of immigrants and first-generation teenagers caught between their heritage and the new world in which they now live and the bittersweet search for a place to call home. Written and directed by Cherien Dabis, Amreeka was produced by Christina Piovesan and Paul Barkin.

Born in Berlin, Maria Elizabeth Zakrzewska (1829–1902) was a pioneering female doctor in the United States. After studying medicine, she left in 1853 for the United States, where she was graduated at Cleveland medical college. She established the New York infirmary. In 1862, Zakrzewska founded the New England Hospital for Women and Children, the first hospital in Boston. She also broke barriers that hindered women in practicing medicine in the United States, founded hospitals for women, and pioneered the movement that opened the nursing profession to black women. A feminist and abolitionist, she became friends with William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips and Karl Heinzen.

We have reported previously on the problems experienced by unaccompanied children immigrating to the United States as well as the new organization in the works to provide legal help to them. Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) seeks to address the issue by providing free legal assistance to the thousands of children who cross the United States border alone. KIND was launched in October 2008 by Microsoft and actress Angelina Jolie. Great work! For a story on KIND, click here.

After a "virtual raid" by the DHS this summer in which the company was notified of the outcome of audits of employee records, American Apparel in Los Angeles continues to be in the immigration news. Andrea Chang of the Los Angeles Times reports the manufacturer of trendy garments will dismiss 1500 workers because the employees could not prove their immigration status. The dismissals amount to more than 10% of the company's roughly 10,000-employee workforce.

The workforce is predominantly Hispanic and the dismissals were announced to workers on a letter from teh CEO in both English and Spanish.

Social science studies often reveal unexpected consequences from the availability of immigrant workers in the United States. Here is one recent article from the Social Science Research Network (www.ssrn.com).

"Female Work and Fertility in the United States: Effects of Low-Skilled Immigrant Labor" HEINRICH HOCK, Department of Economics, Florida State University, Center for Demography and Population Health, Florida State University; DELIA FURTADO, University of Connecticut - Department of Economics, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). Abstract: This paper examines the effects of low-skilled immigration on the work and fertility decisions of high-skilled women born in the United States. The evidence we present indicates that low-skilled immigration to large metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2000 lowered the cost of market-based household services. Using a novel estimation technique to analyze joint decision making, we find that college-educated native females responded, on average, by increasing fertility and reducing short-run labor force participation. These changes were accompanied by a weakening of the negative correlation between work and fertility, as well as an increase in the proportion of women who both bore children and participated in the labor force. Taken in combination, our estimates imply that the continuing influx of low-skilled immigrants substantially reduced the work-fertility tradeoff facing educated urban American women.

USCIS Issues Guidance for Surviving Spouses of U.S. CitizensDeferred Action Authorized for Certain Spouses and Children

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today issued guidance on requesting deferred action for surviving spouses of U.S. citizens who died before the second anniversary of their marriage. Surviving spouses qualify for this temporary program if they were married to, but not legally separated from, their U.S. citizen spouse at the time of that spouse’s death; did not remarry; and are currently residing in the United States.

Surviving spouses qualify for deferred action regardless of whether the U.S. citizen spouse filed a Form I-130 petition for them. Surviving spouses may ask to have their qualifying children included in their deferred action request. To be considered a “qualifying child” of a surviving spouse, the child must be younger than age 21 or otherwise qualify as a child when the deferred action request is submitted; currently reside in the United States; and be unmarried.

USCIS has revised the instructions to the Forms I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, and I-131, Application for Travel Document, as they relate to this temporary new program.

Surviving spouses who apply for deferred action will need to file Form I-360 with supporting documentation and the $375 filing fee with the Vermont Service Center.

Work authorization will be available to surviving spouses and qualifying children who are granted deferred action and who can establish economic necessity. Form I-765 is used for this purpose (separate applications are required for each person seeking work authorization).

Travel authorization will also be available to surviving spouses and qualified children granted deferred action under this program.

USCIS has posted on the Web, an accompanying list of questions and answers and a fact sheet about this program. For additional information about this and other immigration services, please call the National Customer Service Center at (800) 375-5283, or visit our Web site, http://www.uscis.gov.

Despite the worst economic crisis in decades, renewed national security concerns in a post-9/11 world and an immigration policy many consider to be broken, a new Public Agenda survey finds immigrants themselves hold fast to their belief that America remains the land of opportunity and remain committed to becoming U.S. citizens. These voices are vital as legislators today lay the groundwork for passing immigration reform by President Obama’s 2010 timeline.

The report released today by the nonpartisan nonprofit research organization, Public Agenda, follows up on a 2002 survey and tracks immigrants’ shifting attitudes during a tumultuous period. Conducted in May 2009 and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, A Place to Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now About Their Life in America, utilized landline and cellular telephones along with oversamples to provide the widest perspective possible from more than 1,100 foreign-born adults from around the world.

In particular, the survey provides new insight into the views of undocumented immigrants and Mexican and Muslim immigrants. "Immigrants infuse our society with energy, talent and renewed belief in our cherished institutions, the Constitution, the importance of an impartial justice system and participatory democracy," said Vartan Gregorian, President of Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Public Agenda has identified the following findings compared to immigrants’ viewpoints in 2002:

Concerns about discrimination have held stable and views of federal immigration services have improved. · Since 2002, there's been essentially no change in those who say there's discrimination against immigrants in the U.S. (62 percent say "some" or "a great deal"). But far fewer immigrants overall say they've experienced much discrimination personally, with 25 percent reporting they've run into "some" or "a great deal." (a small but significant 5-point drop since 2002).

· Mexican and other Latin American immigrants are more likely than any other groups to say there's some or "a great deal" of discrimination against immigrants in the United States (75 percent of Mexicans and 72 percent of Central and South Americans). But they're no more likely to experience discrimination personally.

· Muslim immigrants are less likely to say there's much discrimination against immigrants. Some 64 percent of Muslim immigrants say there is little or no discrimination against immigrants, compared to 32 percent of other immigrants.

· Since 2002, the number of people giving positive ratings to federal immigration officials rose to 58 percent from 48 percent and 58 percent of immigrants say it is easy to get information about immigration and naturalization issues from the government, with 21 percent who say it’s "very easy."

While economic worries may be taking a toll on overall satisfaction, economic and practical concerns are much more important reasons to become a citizen than they were in 2002. · Among legal residents who are not U.S. citizens, the top reasons to become a citizen are "having equal rights and responsibilities" (80 percent) and the right to vote (78 percent). · Yet there were significant increases in those who cite making it easier to get certain jobs (69 percent, up 14 points), to make it easier to travel (65 percent, up 14 points) and to qualify for government programs like Medicaid and food stamps (only 36 percent, the lowest on the scale, but still a 14-point increase from 2002). · Half (52 percent) say it's "very hard" to get a job without knowing English, and a sizable number of immigrants (45 percent) came here without knowing the language. But they're aggressively trying to learn. Seven in 10 immigrants who knew very little or no English when they came to the United States say they've taken English classes, up 23 points from 2002. · Dissatisfaction with the economy may be driving one significant change form 2002. While an overwhelming 87 percent say they're happy with life in the U.S., the number who are "extremely happy" fell from 55 percent to 34 percent.

Strong majorities of immigrants surveyed said they made the right choice in coming to the United States. · Majorities rated the U.S. as better than their birth country for earning a good living (88 percent), having a trusted legal system (70 percent), making good health care available (67 percent), having a good education system (62 percent), being a good place to raise children (55 percent) and on free speech (55 percent). · Seven in 10 say they intend to make the U.S. their permanent home, and that given the chance they'd do it all over again (a nine point decline from 2002).

Even as ties to their birth country have grown stronger, immigrants say they can quickly adapt to the United States. · 77 percent say they felt comfortable in the U.S. within five years, and nearly half said it took less than two years. · The number of immigrants who say they call home at least once a week rose from 28 percent to 40 percent, perhaps due to improved telecommunications. · Those who send money to the birth country "once in a while" increased 14 points, to 44 percent, while those who say they never send money fell from 55 percent to 37 percent.

Immigrants support a range of reform proposals, although support can change by age and ethnic group. · Seven in ten (72 percent) say that the government should offer a path to citizenship, i.e. a way for illegal immigrants with no criminal record and who have shown a commitment to the United States to become citizens. · Some 84 percent support a guest worker program, and 61 percent strongly favor it. · Mexicans are more likely to support a path to citizenship (84 percent), compared to only 62 percent of Middle Easterners, 54 percent of East Asians, and 48 percent of South Asians in favor. Support also declines as people grow older: 85 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds favor the path to citizenship, but only 56 percent of those 65 and older do.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has published a scathing report of "nativist intolerance and hate violence" in Suffolk county, where the hateful murder of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero occurred. The report is very critical of the role of complacency and even support of hate by local law enforcement and state officials. Click here for the full report.